Now, first off, my primary reference for the "correctness" aspects of the build is:
Tankograd Special No. 2 - "Soviet Tank-Transporter and Heavy-Duty Truck MAZ-535 adn MAZ-537" If you do not have this, Tankograd are reprinting it this year.
Now, let's get into what i like to call the "great wheel controversy". Essentially, people are criticizing Trumpeter's wheels, specifically the Tractor ones. And...(they asked imploringly...)
...yes, Trumpeter screwed them up. But not quite the way everyone has been discussing it.
I took measurments and compared them to the 1/35 scale drawings and diagrams in the Tankograd book. Trumpeter actually made the wheels relatively close...until you go past the sidewalls of the tire. They just flat out made the tire too flat...not too small. See below, Red markings are for kit profiles, Yellow are for correct profiles.
As can be seen, they need more "bulge" in the middle. The real tires have a very distinct rounded profile and Trumpeter squared this off. But the wheels have the correct diameter out to the edges of the sidewall, so they are technically correct as well. Sort of.
Also, they messed up the tread pattern. It should "curve" on the "top" and it should be straight on the sidewalls...but this is reversed. Again, the lines tell the tale.
This also proves true for the trailer wheels,although the diameter of the wheels is not an issue here:
How big of an issue is this? Well, the sidewall and tread detail is not too noticable unless you really look into it...to be honest, I have a hard time caring.
But the lack of "bulge" is a fairly obvious problem AND it is a noticable feature in EVERY photo I see of a 537. There is no variance that I notice. So we have to make due with what we have for now and hope for resin wheels with this corrected.
